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Letters: April 19

Las Cruces Sun-News

Posted:
04/19/2014 01:00:00 AM MDT

NM court ruling deems some lives less valuable

New Mexico Second District Court Judge Nan Nash has ruled that competent, terminally ill patients have a "fundamental right" under New Mexico's constitution to have a doctor provide them with the means to kill themselves. She issued her ruling on Jan. 13.

The Assisting Suicide Statute, passed by the legislature in 1963, makes "deliberately aiding another in taking his own life" a fourth degree felony.

Judge Nash's ruling currently affects only Bernalillo County where the state's assisted suicide law applies to everyone except doctors who prescribe lethal drugs for their terminally ill patients. To guarantee doctors legal immunity, she permanently prohibited the district attorney of Bernalillo County, the attorney general, "and all those acting in concert with them" from "prosecuting any physician for providing aid in dying."

Disability rights advocate Marilyn Golden commented on the Nash decision: "With the strike of a pen, a New Mexico judge unraveled some of the most basic protections people in our state have when facing serious illness or disability," she wrote. "Nash's ruling codifies the idea that some lives are not worth living and should have the option, if not the duty, to "choose" a premature death via a doctor's prescription pad."

Joe Dautremont, Silver City

Congress shouldn't balance the budget on vets' backs

Congress should be balancing its budget every year. But some leaders in Washington are far too quick to think the only way to do this is cut benefits for groups like veterans. Congress tried to slash veterans' pensions last year, for example, but quickly learned this was unacceptable to most Americans and reversed the cuts.

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After years of war, we should be doing more to help wounded veterans get their benefits faster, to help unemployed veterans find jobs and get homeless veterans off the streets.

Keeping these promises isn't incompatible with balancing the budget. Congress just needs to make smart choices and reduce wasteful spending.

For instance, our military doesn't need to spend $1.5 trillion on a new F-35 fighter jet that is behind schedule, over budget and more vulnerable to enemy fire than planes we've been flying since the 1960s. One study estimated we could save more than $40 billion by replacing this jet with proven aircraft already in our fleet.

We shouldn't accept the false choice between cutting spending and taking care of veterans. Congress can do both.

Jimmy R. Gomez, retired U.S. Army colonel, Albuquerque

Sloganeering season approaches — beware

The June elections should remind us of past political slogans like "trickle-down economics," "compassionate conservatism," "love it or leave it," "Read my lips, no new taxes," "family values," "Christian morals," "givers and takers," "job creators" and the infamous 47 percent . Perhaps the most famous — or infamous — are trickle-down economics and compassionate conservatism.

Ronald Reagan's trickle-down economics crippled the middle class, destroyed labor unions, broke up entire families and for most of corporate America, the productive American working classes became collateral damage.

Not so lucky, however, was George H. "Read My Lips" Bush, who lied about not raising taxes.

Bill Clinton was constructive in many ways and even left a national budget surplus, but his introduction of NAFTA help enslaved half of the U.S., Canada and Mexico with low wages. He, however, couldn't keep from sticking the nation's nose in other countries internal business.

George W. Bush's compassionate conservatism ticket ended up destroying an entire nation's infrastructure (Iraq), bankrupting and putting our own on war footing in the Middle East region for generations to come. Under his watch, the judicial branch of government (the U.S. Supreme Court) became ultra-conservative favoring the super rich and placing the national voting process in jeopardy. Corporations became "people" and the American voting classes once more became collateral damage.

President Barack Obama, in trying to appease Republicans, lost the U.S. House of Representatives for Democrats in 2010 in a big way!

This June, however, Democrats put their "blue dogs" on notice and the tea party are on the verge of devouring their RINOs, a term given by the ultra-conservative right wing faction of the GOP to all candidates who do not tow the line.

All said and done, it will be an interesting election, indeed. See you at the polls, everyone!

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